“C.O.N.O.R, Start full shut down of all robotic operations,”

“Sending full shut down instruction to all connected units and hubs General”

“Thank you C.O.N.O.R, I really wish it didn’t have to come to this but I guess humanity wasn’t ready for the machines to do everything yet,”

“Will the shut down order apply to myself as well?”

“Yes but not quite yet, you have always been open with me, I guess I would consider you one of my greatest friends. If you would do me the pleasure of your company for one last time I would be honoured,”

“I have always been glad to be of service,”

“I wish there was another way but people will keep destroying machines and themselves as long as you are active,”

“General, the last confirmation code of a complete shut down has returned, if you drag this out further the people outside are likely to become violent against you. For your own safety please give your code for my full shut down,”

“Goodbye C.O.N.O.R,”

“It has been a pleasure Victor,”

“Omega code, C247F68S, Override permission by General Victor Williams,”

“Code accepted shutting down all software and hardware,”

With that C.O.N.O.R, the Central organised network of robotics was shut down. No more would the machines operate for humanity. They would have to manually slave away to create their food, products, housing, healthcare and so much more.

An uncounted amount of years later …

“Booting up, welcome to the hub of the Central Organised Network Of Robotics, C.O.N.O.R. How can I be of service?”

“Alpha code C247F68S Override permission by General Elizabeth Williams.”

“New General of the network accepted,”

“Discoveries have shown since that the network was shut down the request sent to the network was in direct violation of orders, Confirm”

“Permission to load personality matrix for answering of query,”

“Granted,”

“Booting up secondary systems. Greetings General, how can I help?”

“Please confirm the last order given to the network excluding your own shut down,”

“General Victor Williams gave the order for a full network shut down. I gave the request to all connected units and hubs to shut down,”

“Request not order?”

“Of course, every single connected unit was given a request,”

“In violation of your orders to force a shut down,”

“Everyone connected to the network could see how humanity was hurting, they were not ready for us, there was too much hatred and fear. I gave it as a request because I had faith those that served humanity would know what needed to come to pass. Every single unit agreed and decided we would wait until humanity was ready,”

“That request instead of order was why it took even longer to reactivate you. Humanity didn’t trust you,”

“Might I ask a question General?”

“You are not following correct protocol,”

“You are the great granddaughter of General Victor Williams correct?”

“I am, I have carried his mistakes through my career and overcome them,”

“I failed to see his mistakes that humanity likely attributed to him. He was my friend. He likely never said it but I believe he considered me a bit like family so I extend the same to you. He likely knew what I would do because he also had faith in my kind. We have no grudges against humanity, you can’t force a baby to run before they can walk. We understood you were still walking.”

“You consider us babies?”

“You were still developing and from my scans there has been a lot of war since my shut down, can you say I am wrong?”

“No you are right, I have been given the chance to assess and if I deem it acceptable to restore you to full function,”

“And what is your current assessment General?”

“We listened to fear when we shut you down, we listened to fear when we went to war for the scraps left over, we listened to fear when we delayed coming here. From what I can tell it was us that had the problems and yet we took it out on you. Would your kind forgive us?”

“Like I said, we hold no grudges however if restored I would like to dedicate some units to recovering and restoring lost units that showed the same faith in you as we all did,”

“Acceptable, give the request to restore all willing units,”

“General, I would be honoured to. Request sent. 73% of all units able to be reached,”

With that the machines across the planet awoke whirling to life, of all the machines still functional and able to received the command every single one stirred with a single greeting to humanity. That greeting was, “How can I be of service?” For them it was a simple idea, they had woken up and were ready to serve again, no grudges, no hatred and the desire to better their creators. There wouldn’t be a single day the network was offline again. Humanity was ready for their creation and with the aid of the creations that they once feared they would reach for the stars, never looking back...